Beginning of the End
by AerrowLover
Summary: When a mysterious new enemy appears and threatens to destroy Atmos, the Storm Hawks rush to attack. However an old enemy appears. Several hours and a horrible accident later both Aerrow and his once rival are stranded and have to depend upon each other...
1. Of Arguments and Black Clouds

Aerrow sighed.

Really, why did things always have to find a way of being more complex than what they actually were? Its like life just has to toss everything on its head to operate.

Or rather, just simply toss Finn on his head to make sure he can't understand a damn thing.

He forced himself to act calm and he turned around to face Finn.

"Finn, seriously, just how many times do we have to go over this? Piper has explained it twice, and I have done it again for you. This is the fourth and final run-through, because we really can't waste any more time on this, okay?" Aerrow knew that everything sounded way too harsh as soon as he has said it. Finn looked hurt….. But then again he always pulled the same face if you said something that he didn't want to hear.

"I know dude, I totally get the whole running-out of time thing, but really man, Piper's plans are always way too complicated for me to get… and it's not just me! Look at Junko!" Finn pointed to the wallop next to him. Junko was currently staring out of the window with a cheesy grin spread over his face. It was obvious that he had not heard a single word, but rather was living in a daydream. A very pleasant one, judging by that smile. Probably about food. Burgers in particular.

Piper scowled.

"Really! May I remind you, Finn, that my plans always work and I have them in detail so that everyone will know what they are doing and when they should do it! If it wasn't for me, you and the others, bar Aerrow, would not have a clue what to do and would be all the worse for it!" she shouted. Clearly, she had had these things brewing on her mind for some time, and now it was too much for her to cope with. Especially at a time like this….

Finn sneered.

"Oh, "you and the others bar Aerrow!" So what is this now, you think that we can't look after ourselves without you and your plans apart from Aerrow? You think that he's better than us or something?" He looked more mad now than hurt. This was turning nasty…. Why did they always have to fight over stupid things?

"Oh pur-lease Finn. You and I both know that you would be hopeless on your own, and besides Aerrow is obviously better than you because he is, after all, the Sky Knight of this squadron!" Piper said, rolling her eyes.

Finn looked ready to retort but before he opened his mouth Aerrow spoke quickly.

"Guys, please. Not now. We don't afford to fight now when we should be preparing to face whatever the hell it is that Stork has picked up on the sonar. The fact that he doesn't know what it is means that it is bad…. Very bad. But if we stick together and follow Piper's plan we will be okay. Look how many times we have been able to fight the Talons when they thought they had the upper hand! So lets quite arguing and get ready!"

Junko broke out of his trance and looked at the others.

"Umm…. Guys? What's the matter? I thought we were getting ready to go…?" He said slowly, looking confused.

Finn sighed now. "Yeah buddy, we're going now."

Aerrow relaxed. "Right, lets go and find out what this thing is and take it down if we can. But we work as a team, and we stick together. Understood?"

They nodded as one once, before walking away from him to go and get their skimmers and heli-blades checked out and loaded up.

Aerrow walked over to the window and looked out at the sky which surrounded the Condor. Try as he might, he couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. It was almost a sense of foreboding. Like there was a permanent black cloud over him.

He could swear that he could feel the rain on his head.

After a final glance outside he strolled towards the door and went through it; for once feeling nervous as he went.


	2. Of Talons and Terras

_**Author's Note: Hey guys! Yes, I have finally managed to get something uploaded, and the first chapter was really a tester of sorts to see would it actually work and upload. It did, so here I am, writing away now, happy that I can now leave stories here! Yay! There's more to come, so stay tuned!**_

His first action was to nearly send a random Talon flying. Purely by accident, of course. Wasn't his fault if some stupid wannabe, desperate to impress, got in his way when he was running behind time.

His second action? Simply ignore said random Talon and merely stand and walk over him in order to keep going. The Talon in question yelled as a foot collided with his ribs, but hey, it was his fault that he didn't look where he was going, right?

Dark Ace swore angrily. Thanks to that idiot, he was now in more trouble than what he was originally with Master Cyclonis. She abhorred lateness as a rule, and with her already being in a bad mood….

"Out of my way, you useless fools. Can't you see I have matters to attend to?" Dark Ace had barely finished this statement when a tall, curvy magenta-haired woman approached him, pushing several men out of her way.

"Ace, you moron. You're over fifteen minutes late for the audience with Master Cyclonis! Where on Atmos have you been? Surely it doesn't take you that long to walk from your apartments, does it? Or have you been spending your time wallowing in self-pity after your latest defeat with the Storm Hawk boy?" she said with a sneer.

Ah yes. Ravess. As charming as ever, apparently.

"Me? Wallowing in self-pity? Never. And that latest defeat was due to you and your ape of a brother allowing the Storm Hawks to get away, if I remember correctly. As I recall, the Master herself blamed you for that, didn't she?" He looked at Ravess to see what effect his words were causing on her, and sure enough, her sneer had de-evolved to an angry grimace.

They were both walking down the dark, gloomy halls of the palace now, each step bringing them closer to the room were their Master, in a foul mod, was waiting for them. As she had been for the now past seventeen minutes.

"One day Ace, one day you will no longer be in favour with Cyclonis. And when that day comes, I shall be there, waiting to simply give you hell."

They had finished the walk and were now outside the door of the audience chamber. Neither moved, each to intend on winning this verbal war.

The Dark Ace smiled.

"You won't be there to see that day Ravess."

"And why not, may I ask?"

He paused, hand over the door knob.

"Because you will be sent away long before me. And it will be me who gets to make a mockery of you. So sit back and enjoy the ride while you still can."

He stepped through the door first and as he closed it, the last thing he saw was her furious face.

It was always so much fun with Ravess, and itwas sad to think that someday she will not be around anymore.

But then he saw her angry face in his mind and he realised that maybe he wasn't just as sad as he thought.

*************************************************************

The Dark Ace bowed, hand over chest as usual, before looking at the cloaked figure before him and speaking.

"Master. You wished to see me."

Her fingers hit buttons in a seemingly random pattern on her latest little machine; making a clicking noise every time.

Click. Click.

"You're late. By nineteen minutes, to be precise."

Click. Click.

"I am sorry, Master. Those idiots who call themselves "Talons" got in my way. I did come here as fast as I was able."

Click. Click.

"Excuses…. Excuses…. I don't care what happened, or why it did. All I know is that you are late, and I dislike lateness."

Click. Click.

"It will not happen again, Master." Dark Ace silently cursed all Talons to hell…. And to the wastelands.

"Good. Now, to business." She had stopped working on the machine now, and had instead turned to face him, her face partly concealed by her hooded cloak.

She walked over to a different piece of equipment, one which Ace could identify. It was a crystal powered sonar detector, rather like one that many pilot ships used for recon purposes have, only this one was built on a larger scale. More used fitted on a wall in the management rooms that regular scan the skies around Cyclonia.

"This picked up a rather…. Unusual frequency yesterday, Dark Ace. Something which we have never encountered before; or even heard of for that matter."

"Where did it pick up this frequency?"

"On the north-eastern border. I sent a dispatch of Talons, headed by Snipe out there yesterday as soon as this was made aware to me but they found nothing."

Dark Ace frowned. "Sounds weird. But what do you want me to do? If they didn't find anything then, chances are nothing will be found now-"

Master Cyclonis cut him off with a wave of her hand. "I know, but things have changed. The frequency is coming from a different place. South-eastern."

"That means its near Terra Grimius…." He trailed off. Terra Grimius was a place you didn't go to if you could avoid it. Half the men who had gone there had never returned. Those who did spoke of a dry, barren landscape. Not desert, more like mountainous and bog-like.

"Yes, your knowledge of geography astonishes me."

Wow. She definitely was pissed off. The sooner he got out of here, the better.

The Dark Ace grinned to himself. Next up to talk with the Master with Ravess herself, and boy did she have hell to pay for…. Pity that he couldn't stick around to watch the show.

"Your mission is simple, Dark Ace: Go to the edge of Terra Grimius, and if you find anything report back, and then attack. If you find nothing, just come back." She nodded her head in the direction of the door.

Ace took the hint. Walking slowly backwards, then bowing and straightening up he said "Yes Master. I understand. I will prepare to go at once."

He headed towards the door and before he opened it Master Cyclonis spoke.

"Oh, and Dark Ace?"

He turned towards her.

"Yes, Master?"

Her back was turned to him, her fingers resuming the frantic work of hitting more buttons.

Click. Click.

"Remember to be on time when you come back."

He nodded, bowed again and walked through the door, and the last thing to be heard was the endless click, click.

*************************************************************

Ravess was frowning at him.

"Finished? Can I finally go in now?"

He smiled, and gestured towards the closed door.

"She's all yours."

Ravess pushed past him, and went through the door and as she did so the Dark Ace laughed to himself.

Yes, it was a pity he was going to miss this one. Better get going though. The sooner he left, the sooner he would get back.

Walking back to the main hall, he called for several Talons to make sure that his skimmer was ready for him when he went down, and that he was stocked up on crystals.

He would enjoy going out and getting some fresh air, but it was unfortunate that he had to go to Terra Grimius. Of all places.

He swore again. Life was sometimes such a bitch.

Walking, he saw the Talon he had nearly sent flying, still holding his chest.

The Dark Ace chuckled.

Life's a bitch…. Especially for him…. He thought, smiling to himself.

*************************************************************

_**Well, that was a hell of a long chapter. Sorry about that, I guess I got carried away. At least it makes up for the shortness of chapter one!**_

_**If you like this story so far, please review. I am enjoying this, but I want to make sure that you guys are too! If you could also say what you like about it and why it would also help me out more!**_

_**Thanks for reading! Now for chapter three!**_


	3. Of Newsflashes and Curses

_**Author's Note: Hey, welcome to chapter three! This one was slightly more harder to write than the previous two, but hopefully its okay. **_

_**Sorry to keep harping on about this but please guys, please review. I don't know if anyone likes this story, so a review would be nice. Thanks to Sardonic Request (the lovely Jess XD) though for the review, `tis much appreciated!**_

_**Anyway, back to the story, and to the Storm Hawks….**_

"So dudes…. Let me get his straight..." said Finn. They were all currently on the ramp of the Condor, on their skimmers and in Piper's case, heli-blade and had just finished checking their weapons and crystal stocks when Finn had suddenly spoken.

"We get this strange… um… frequency thing on our sonar which no one has a clue about what it is, or what its from and our first plan is to go and try to find it?" He said, sounding incredulous.

Piper sighed.

"Finn, we went through this, remember? We are going after this because yes, although we have no idea what is causing this frequency we know it must be powerful because of the magnitude it caused on the sonar. That means that it could either be caused by a glitch which would mean nothing bad, or it could be something else. Like Talons trying out a new crystal Cyclonis has come up with, or the Murk Raiders have, well, raided something new to use --"

"None of these I like, by the way." Finn cut in, shaking his head. "Sounds so stupid to me to be doing this!"

"News flash, Finn, you_ are_ stupid."

"Wow, you cut me deep, you really do."

"Guys--" Junko tried to cut in, but was ignored.

"Finn, can't you see how stupid you are being at this moment in time? If it is Talons, we can simply fight them and send them packing, but if we don't they will go on to terrorise more terras! We can't sit back and let them to that, we have to stop them!" Piper finished, glaring at Finn, who gave her the same treatment.

"Piper, Finn, would you two cut it out. What did I just say not even twenty minutes ago? I said that I wanted us all to work as a team and not to waste anymore time, two orders which both of you are breaking already! Look, if you don't stop it, I'm carrying out this mission with Junko only!" Aerrow said angrily. Those two were definitely worse than usual, but on today of all days, it really wasn't the time for them to act up.

Thankfully, mercifully, they both stopped glaring at each other and looked at Aerrow.

"Sorry, Aerrow. I won't do it again." Piper said

"Sorry dude. It won't happen again. Its cool." Finn muttered.

"It's okay, but you both really have to stop being at each others' throats all the time!" Aerrow said, feeling less angry than what had had been a few minutes ago.

Junko smiled.

"I like things better when you two don't fight! I think everything always goes better when you don't. But lets forget about it, and move on. Its in the past now…" Junko trailed off, as if he had forgotten what else he had planned on saying. Suddenly he grinned again.

"I know! Why don't you both hug and say that you're sorry to each other as well! It will get past all negative feelings!" He said happily. Both Piper and Finn stared at him in shock and horror. Aerrow, however smiled evilly.

"That's a good idea, Junko. Well, you two? I believe you have something to say to one another?" he said with a chuckle. Both Piper and Finn looked at him and then at each other before realising they had to actually do this.

They walked towards each other, paused for a second and then quickly hugged.

"I'm sorry Finn."

"Sorry Pipes!"

They broke apart and Piper climbed onto her Heli-blade while Finn clambered onto his skimmer.

Junko smiled again and Aerrow laughed.

"Now, can we go please?" he asked.

They all nodded and made to go but before they transformed their vehicles Piper turned to Finn.

"Finn?"

"Yeah?"

"Please never call me Pipes. Again. Ever." She said.

"Sure thing…. Pipes." Finn said, laughing.

Piper yelled something at him but since they had chosen at that moment to fly, no one heard what she had said.

Probably just as well.

*************************************************************

Dark Ace had said all the swear words he knew under his breath for the past half hour. God, he was pissed off. Off all the places he had to go to, Terra Grimius was officially the worst. He would be there in about twenty minutes and was dreading it.

To make matters worse, he had discovered that some bloody Talon had accidentally caused one of the absorption panels to become loose. Did the idiot not know how expensive those things cost? And what could happen if they fell off?

"If it falls off, I swear to Atmos that I will kill whoever is responsible!" He muttered angrily.

It didn't help that the panel kept shaking every five minutes either.

"A very long, slow death…."

He glanced at the panel. Yup, there it went again.

"Before sending the corpse down to the Wastelands to be burnt…. And to be eaten…." He continued, looking ahead.

He couldn't see a damn thing, so right now it seemed he was on a dead-end mission with a messed up Skimmer and --

Wait…

He looked carefully ahead of him. He could see the faint outline of skimmers, blue and white with a bird-like emblem to be exact.

"Oh, bloody fantastic. Now the Storm Hawks are here. Why not just invite the Rex Guardians too while we're at it?" Dark Ace grumbled. It wasn't that he was scared of fighting the Storm Hawks-he could easily take on the four little kids who were flying towards him- it was simply that he only wanted to get this mission over and done with and head back to Cyclonia.

And there was that stupid piece of metal shaking and jerking again!

"I sometimes think" he muttered darkly, "that life is constantly finding new ways to piss me off, and you know what? It bloody works!"

He flew straight ahead, muttering the same mantra of swear words as he had on the journey here.

*************************************************************

Aerrow was surprised, to say in the least. Here was Finn and Piper, behaving beautifully, and Junko was happily humming to himself.

Thank Atmos that everything was cleared up now.

So why was he surprised?

It had something to do with the fact that he still felt… that something was wrong. He didn't know what, but he could just _feel_ it.

He missed not having Radarr at his side, but his little pal had sprained his arm on a previous mission and was instead onboard the Condor with Stork. Who had not liked the plan. At all.

"You're wanting to fly near Terra Grimius?" he had said. "Do you know what things are there? What diseases you could end up with? You could get Dustpox, or Skymonella! There's also the horrible Humped Hicklen who eats raw human flesh… and of course the Spotted Blue Death Worms! You are all doomed! Doomed!"

Stork had ranted on for ages, literally, until he finally realised that they would still be going. At that time, he had turned around to Radarr and merely said "You and I….are the only ones with brains aboard this ship."

And he had refused to talk anymore on the matter, and had instead locked himself away at the helm of the Condor.

But anyway, he missed Radarr, but that wasn't it… so what could it be?

"Right… so…. I don't see anything!" Finn muttered, looking confused. "I thought something was supposed to be here?"

"I see nothing either…" Junko said, looking around him.

As if that will make something pop out, Junko, Aerrow thought.

"This is strange… the readings are definitely located from here…. I don't understand this at all. It makes no sense; the sonar detector is working perfectly." Piper said. She seemed confused and at the same time curious.

"Brilliant. We came out here all the way for nothing, then. Great." Finn complained to them.

"Well, at least it means nothing is wrong, so that's good." Junko said with a smile. Good old Junko, always the optimist of the group.

"I vote we head back!" Finn exclaimed, pointing back towards the Condor.

"Finn, we can't go back already--" Piper started to say, then after she looked around she sighed.

"Okay, maybe we should go back. There really does seem to be nothing here, so we could go back and check the Sonar and see if it is broken in some way…" she muttered, looking at Aerrow. "What do you think?"

They all looked at him, while he looked around, and then down on the Terra below them. He quickly made up his mind.

"Right, this is what we're gonna do guys. You are going to go back to the Condor, while I take a quick sweep of the area. I'll be five minutes, tops," he added, seeing Piper's face when he mentioned he was staying.

"But dude, there's no need. Nothings here, apart from some fluffy clouds, as always!" Finn said, waving his arms around to make his point.

Aerrow laughed. Trust Finn to make a point like that.

"I know, but I would still like to check. You never know, right? It would make me feel better, Finn. You can go, seriously. I'll be only five minutes at the most." He smiled at his friends.

Piper and Junko had looked at him and at his smiled, had smiled back and headed back in the direction of the Condor. Finn, however before following made his point one more time.

"Dude! Fluffy clouds! that's all!" he said, shaking his head. "I'll see ya then!"

Aerrow watched them go, before swinging his skimmer back around again. He flew straight for a minute and was about to turn around again when he saw a figure approaching in his general direction.

He looked long and hard, before swearing. He could see a faint outline of a skimmer, red and black with a curling black emblem to be exact.

"Crap… not you! Not now!"

He radioed his friends.

"_Um, Piper, Finn? Guys? You there?"_

"_We're here, what's up? Seen anything?"_

"_Yeah… Well… Its not what we were expecting…"_

"_What do you mean, Aerrow? What's there?"_

"_Guys, we have a problem."_

"_What kind of problem?"_

Aerrow looked ahead of him and sighed.

"_A very big problem."_

_*******************************************************_

_**Well, I think that actually worked out. Wow, I'm addicted to this know. I know exactly what's going to happen in this… **_

_**I hope you liked it… and remember folks, reviews are like little slices of heaven….**_

_**Loves xxxx**_


	4. Of Fights and Falls

_**Author's Note: Well, I'm back again… Did you miss me? Welcome to Chapter Four of "Beginning of the End"!**_

_**Now that Dark Ace and Aerrow have seen each other, what will happen?**_

_**Three guesses… but I bet you won't need two of them, am I correct?**_

_**Read and Enjoy, people, and remember to review! It makes everyone happy ;)**_

Dark Ace was slowly counting to ten in his head, in order to calm down and stop his violent swearing, which had reached even new heights. Having seen that it was Aerrow of the Storm Hawks and some of his team flying near him, he decided to fly onwards to them. However, after a minute it seemed like the kids were preparing to leave, and indeed three of them did but Aerrow remained behind.

He watched the kid fly around, almost as if he was looking for something. Dark Ace sighed. He didn't care about things like that now; all he had to do was to take out Aerrow or at the very least, send him packing and continue searching for the source of the "weird" frequency reading. He found himself hoping again that this frequency was either a hoax or that nothing was there, because quite frankly he was in no mood to keep up the search for it.

He glanced back down at his skimmer, and he was unsurprised to see that the panel was still shaking and jerking around. Seriously, when he found that Talon who had caused it to be in that condition….

"Oh, what the hell. Nothing's here, so I might as well take on the brat. It will give me something to do, at least." he said, stretching. He had been on the skimmer for ages...

He saw the kid look around him again and then straight at him. He saw the look which crossed Aerrow's face. It made him snicker. He saw Aerrow mutter something.

The Dark Ace grinned. Perfect. Now he had a proper reason to go and attack the little Hawk.

He was expected.

*************************************************************

Aerrow had at first frozen at the sight of the Dark Ace, but then he had cursed and felt for his radio. He would now have to battle with his rival, instead of finishing his little recon mission and heading back to the Condor. It was almost as if this was planned. Maybe it was. Maybe this was a Cyclonian plan; lure them out to an unwelcoming Terra and send the Dark Ace out after them.

"But it won't work. I'll stop him." Aerrow muttered to himself, before radioing his friends. They had to know what was happening incase a Cyclonian Battle Cruiser was headed for the Condor at this moment in time. They could concentrate on that, while he went head-to-head with the Dark Ace.

"_Um, Piper, Finn? Guys? You there?__" _Aerrow said into the radio.

"_We__'__re here, what__'__s up? Seen anything?__" _Piper's voice came across as being curious before worried. Typical her, Aerrow laughed to himself.

"_Yeah__…__ Well__…__ Its not what we were expecting__…"_

"_What do you mean, Aerrow? What__'__s there?__" _Finn said, sounding worried. Typical Finn, this time.

"_Guys, we have a problem.__"_

"_What kind of problem?__"_

"_A very big problem.__"_

"_What do you mean? What's going on? Damn it Aerrow, talk to us!" _Piper was now sounding mad. Better hurry up and tell her then. Or else she'll explode.

"_It's the Dark Ace." _he could hear the sharp intake of breath from his friends. _"He's headed right at me, but I don't think he's after you lot on the Condor. However, if this was all a plan by the Cyclonians then maybe there's a cruiser headed your way." _he said quickly, while looking at the ever-approaching skimmer in front of him.

"_Okay, Okay, we're on it. Do you want us to come out-"_

"_No! No, that would be unnecessary. Besides, I need you guys on the Condor in case some Talons come a- knockin', okay?" _

Piper sighed, while Finn sounded like he had huffed and was sulking. He wanted to go back out and fight the Dark Ace? Aerrow snorted. Like that would work out positively for Finn...

"_Okay, Aerrow, we'll stay here. But be careful, and take care of yourself, okay? And if you need help, just call for us." _she said.

"_Yeah dude, we'll be over in a flash!" _Finn said happily.

"_Good. Okay, this is me signing out then. Over and Out." _Aerrow switched off the radio and looked ahead. The skimmer was only a few yards away from him now, but he wasn't going to let the Dark Ace come any closer. He would go up to him instead.

"Time to party…" Aerrow muttered, while flying at the approaching skimmer as fast as he could.

The sooner this was over the better. If it had all been part of an elaborate plot, then defeating the Dark Ace would mean that they could leave and not have to worry about anymore weird frequency readings.

However, if this was merely a coincidence, then all this was in the way of something more important.

They could be running out of time…

*************************************************************

The kid had radioed his friends, telling them not to leave the Condor incase a cruiser was after them. Paranoid much? It kept mentioning something about a frequency reading as well… Was Aerrow and the Storm Hawks here on a similar mission to himself?

Whatever. He had a mission and he intended to get it over with.

Trying to ignore the shaking panel on his skimmer, he flew on ahead.

The brat was now flying towards him, at full speed too. Seems someone was just as eager as he was to get all this over and done with.

Dark Ace grinned. The kid looked fed up, but just wait until he was finished with him. Then he would have something to feel beat up about.

"Hello again, Aerrow. Out for a little ride, are you? And on Terra Grimius, of all places! Surely you would prefer to waste your time on Terra Neon instead, acting your age and not pretending to be grown-up?" He said with a snicker, and smiled all the more when he saw the expression which had previously been on the kid's face transform to a frown.

Yes, this was going to be fun, all right…

*************************************************************

Aerrow was fed up, but he knew that he had to do this. Flying on, he saw the Dark Ace flying towards him, and he had his trademark sneer on his face.

They were close enough to each other now to talk without shouting, and this was what the Dark Ace decided he would do first. Talk.

"Hello again, Aerrow. Out for a little ride, are you? And on Terra Grimius, of all places! Surely you would prefer to waste your time on Terra Neon instead, acting your age and not pretending to be grown-up?"

Aerrow glared at his rival, who had succeeded in making him more annoyed than what he had been. The Dark Ace could always do that to him.

"I could say the same to you, Dark Ace. Has Master Cyclonis finally had enough of your whining and sent you away?" he retorted back, trying not to cringe at how bad his comeback seemed. Even to his own ears.

The Dark Ace laughed. Seems he too knew just how bad that was.

"This time, there will be no mercy, little Hawk."

Aerrow laughed himself. Just how many times had he heard that threat without actually suffering from it? "Put another record on, Dark Ace. That one seems to have been on repeat too long!" he said, pulling out his energy blades and lightening them up, while preparing to leap at any moment.

He really wished Radarr was here; who would control his skimmer when he was engaged in battle? The Dark Ace could somehow manage to do it perfectly. Aerrow could do it, but he just wasn't too confident.

Dark Ace had pulled out his own energy blade and placed in it his customary red crystal.

"Bring it on then, Aerrow." he hissed at him.

Okay, now he was pissed. Great one, Aerrow. Real smart.

Aerrow smirked himself. Bring it on, indeed…

*************************************************************

They flew at each other, slashing with their energy blades, sending bright sparks of red and blue at and around each other.

They circled, and then flew at each other again. Dark Ace leapt up onto the front of his skimmer, once again ignoring the movements of the loose piece of metal and instead concentrated on this fight.

Aerrow mimicked the move and waited on the front of the his skimmer, while the vehicles flew head on.

Dark Ace smiled. "There's still time to simply give up and fly away, Aerrow."

Aerrow glared at him. "No fear, but I want to stick around and watch you get the hell beaten out of you, like always!" he said back at him, watching the Dark Ace throw an extremely poisonous expression his way. The skimmers were closer than ever now.

And that's when it happened.

The skimmers flew at each other with such force and neither competitor was paying any attention to this detail, when they should have. They were too busy throwing cheap insults to one another and sending blasts ansd bursts of energy.

The skimmers collided with a sickening crunch.

Aerrow heard the Dark Ace yell in pain, before registering pain coursing throughout his own body. He tried to pull up, but the skimmers were stuck fast and his refused to budge. The controls were also unresponsive.

Dark Ace felt a sharp burst of pain along his left side and he struggled to stay upright. He tried to turn his skimmer around but it seemed that it had been messed up in the collision, and it was tangled up in Aerrow's skimmer.

Things were not looking good. But they were to get worse.

The skimmers appeared to be falling, carrying their riders to with them. They had been damaged beyond repair in that crash, and now where simply falling out of the sky.

"Dark Ace! Can you move your skimmer?" Aerrow asked quickly, glancing down below him. The Terra that had previously been miles below them was now looking an awful lot closer.

The Dark Ace rolled in his eyes. "If I could move this piece of crap, do you think I would be still here, falling through the sky?" he replied irritably.

Aerrow sighed. "We don't have time for this. In another minute, we'll be dead. Have you any type of plan at all?"

The Dark Ace struggled to keep his eyes open. They were closing at an alarmingly fast rate, while his side was screaming out in agony.

"We're going to have to let these skimmers fall down first and then jump of them and hope that our parachutes will work…" he said.

Aerrow looked at him. "Are you crazy?" He looked down at the ground. Time was getting shorter…

"Okay, okay…" he looked at Dark Ace. The man had closed his eyes.

Aerrow gulped. Definitely not good.

He climbed carefully out of his skimmer and clambered over to the Dark Ace's. He looked carefully at the man, who had appeared to have passed out from an injury which Aerrow couldn't see. It was only then that Aerrow realised that his right arm was bleeding heavily.

"I'll deal with that later… right now though, I need all the luck on Atmos…" he glanced down again. Nearly there now.

He carefully untangled Dark Ace from the pilot seat and checked that he had a parachute.

The skimmers were getting closer…

And closer…

They were nearly there…

Aerrow took a deep breath, and without another thought, leap into the air, dragging Dark Ace with him, making sure he was upright. He was lighter than Aerrow had expected, which helped him alot.

Aerrow flew through the air at an incredible speed before hearing a woosh and knowing that both of their parachutes had successfully opened.

It was when he looked down that he discovered another problem.

They were still going to hit the ground hard.

But Aerrow could do nothing about that. However there was a chance they could end up breaking a neck or backbone…

"No time to worry about that now!" Aerrow told himself.

The ground was even more closer…

Suddenly; appallingly; Aerrow's world turned to an violent shade of black and the last thing he felt was Dark Ace falling from his arms and pain throughout his body.

He heard himself hit the ground with a sickening thud, and then no more.

*************************************************************

_**Okay, so that could have gone better, I'm sure I was rambling near the end there.**_

_**Hopefully some people may have actually stuck with me and read to the end! Yay!**_

_**So, what will happen next? Will they make it intact or not?**_

_**Stay put for Chapter 5!**_

_**Reviews are like those MasterCard Adverts are always saying: Priceless :D**_


	5. Of Sandwiches and Searches

**Back again after ages, or so it seems! Well, here's chapter five, hope you enjoy it and please remember to review guys, 'cause it seriously makes my day and I am now thinking that everyone hates this story!**

**We left off with Dark Ace and Aerrow in a rather sticky mess, but sadly this chapter doesn't continue with them instead, lets see how everyone else is holding up!**

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Piper looked up from the entry she was currently writing into her journal and glared at the figure of Finn sitting opposite her. He continued, annoyingly tapping his fingers of the table regardless of the silence.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Piper held her breath and counted slowly in her head to ten. If he did that one more time-

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Spoke too soon.

"That's it! Finn, would you please stop it, even for a bit? I have to write this and you're driving me crazy!" she said to the boy facing her. Who now had a cheesy grin plastered over his face.

"Ah, come on Pipes! I'm bored!" He grinned in his own defence. Sadly that didn't help.

"And what did I tell you about calling me Pipes?!" the enraged crystal-specialist glared at him again. Deep down though she knew she was overreacting at this, but she couldn't help it. She was worried…

"Piper, come off it dude! I was only kidding!" the blonde boy muttered, looking forlorn. "I'm sorry..." He looked down at the table, with a sigh.

Piper suddenly felt guilty. Here she was, blowing up at Finn, who though could be an annoying jerk sometimes, he always meant well. A thought struck her. Maybe he was worried too?

She too sighed, looking at the boy in front of her.

"I'm sorry too, Finn. I really am. I didn't mean to blow up at you. Its just…" she stopped, unsure whether to continue or not.

He looked up, staring at her. "What? What's up?"

She looked down. If she said what she was thinking…if she voiced her fears out loud…

"Piper? What's wrong? Is it… Aerrow?" Finn said. He didn't want to admit it out loud either, that he was worried about where their leader was.

Piper nodded slowly. "Its been over an hour, Finn. With no radio contact or anything. This isn't like him. At all."

He got up and walked around to her side of the table. He pulled up a chair from beside her and sat down.

"I'm worried too, but I dunno if there even is anything to be worried about. Man, we all know what he's like when he fights the Dark Ace; he would happily fight the guy for _hours_ if he could." he said to the girl with a smile. She tried to smile back but failed. It just didn't make any sense…

"I know, I know. I want to believe that so badly Finn, but I don't know if I _can_. We've lost sight of him, and he isn't responding to radio contact, and for once, _I don't know what to do_!" she finished, feeling herself break down when she said those words. She rubbed at her eyes fiercely.

Finn looked uneasily. He didn't know how to cope with nearly-crying and upset girls, but he could try. And he understood what she was going through.

He leant over and gave Piper a hug. She looked startled, but then leant into him and hugged him back.

"I bet he's fine, Piper. But you know what we could do to check?" Finn said to the girl, who looked up at him.

She sniffed. "What?"

He grinned. "Go out and look for him!"

Piper looked at the boy as if he had lost what little brains he had once had. "Are you crazy? Aerrow told us to stay here in case more Cyclonians showed up! He gave us an order!" She started to say but was interrupted.

Finn laughed at the look on the girl's face. "Piper, Aerrow isn't here, so we can just ignore that order! Plus, no big bad Cyclonians have shown up, and its been an hour now, so I'm willing to bet that it was only Dark Ace out there. Its safe for us to go and look for Aerrow."

Piper looked as if she was going to say something but stopped herself. She nodded instead. "Okay. Lets go and look for a missing Hawk!"

Finn nodded. "Yeah. The sooner the better!"

Junko, who had been with Stork during this whole exchange suddenly walked in.

"Guys? Stork says that he still can't see anything around or near us, so its pretty much safe outside!" He told them with a small smile.

Finn smiled back. "Great. Now we can go and look."

Piper got up and walked out of the room, on her way to her Sky Ride.

Junko however looked at Finn, confused. "What? Where are we going? Aerrow said-"

Finn pulled his buddy over to the door by his shoulders. "Aerrow isn't back yet, and since we're worried about him, we thought we could go a-looking for him. Wanna come?" He said, looking at Junko hopefully.

The wallop smiled again. "Sure. Lets go and find Aerrow then. But can I go and make a sandwich quickly? I'm hungry…"

"Sure. And make me one too, please, while you're at it dude!" Finn called over to his friend as they went their separate ways.

They didn't notice a small and furry creature with its left arm in a sling sneak out of the closest bedroom.

Radarr was sad. His best friend was missing and he couldn't go and help him… but he could go with Piper, Finn and Junko and help look for him.

Radarr smiled happily to himself. Now he could actually do something useful and help his friend.

He carefully walked through the doors and followed Finn. It wasn't hard, seeing as he was humming a rock song's guitar solo very loudly the whole way.

Radarr laughed to himself. Anyone could follow Finn. Anyone. Even Snipe could.

*************************************************************

Speaking of Snipe, he was currently following his sister over to Master Cyclonis' Throne Room. They had been summoned to see her, but neither of them actually knew why. All they knew was that she wanted to see them and it was important.

Snipe growled to himself angrily. If it was to simply yell at them for messing up again, he was going to kill the nearest Talon.

His sister looked behind her.

"Hurry up, you big lummox! You know that she said it was important!" Ravess said to her brother, who was glaring at her. She stuck out her tongue at him and turned around again, quickening her pace.

Yes, that was so mature of her, but frankly she couldn't be bothered. Snipe was really getting on her nerves today. Add to that the fact that their mission had royally messed up again thanks once more to her brainless brother, and she was ready to kill.

"If the Master only wants to yell at us again, I will seriously kill my brother and anyone else in my way!" she muttered crossly to herself.

Finally, they were there… or rather, she was there and her brother was at least a metre behind. As usual.

"Snipe, will you hurry up!" she shouted into the empty corridor.

A minute later she was rewarded by hearing heavy footsteps.

"Why must you always lag behind?" she asked him, before opening the door.

"Snipe's tired!" he muttered back, before following her into the room.

*************************************************************

The siblings walked into the room, and bowed before the cloaked figure ahead of them.

"Master Cyclonis, you were expecting us…?" Ravess asked the figure, who turned around to face the two. The cloak's hood dematerialised to show the pale face of a young girl with large violet eyes. Which right now, were currently flashing with anger.

Brilliant… this_ is_ just to yell at us… Ravess thought to herself.

She was about to speak when the Master herself spoke.

"I'm guessing you two do not know why you are here?" she said in her customary cool voice. She walked over to them, holding her crystal staff in her small hands.

"I think its to do with that mission we were on!" Came the deep voice of the brother.

Ravess resisted the urge to turn around and hit him. She looked at Master Cyclonis.

"Master, we believed you wanted to talk to us about that mission, and I wish to say on behalf of both my brother and I that we are sorry about what happened and it will not occur again." She said quickly, while her brother rolled his eyes.

His sister was such a suck up, but if it got them of a punishment, he wouldn't say anything to her about it.

The Master merely smiled the two, and toyed with a crystal on her staff.

"Both of you are wrong. I will speak to the two of you in due course about that, but not today. There are more pressing matters at hand."

The siblings sighed in relief. They were going to get a bit of a breather before that expected meeting.

"A while ago, I sent the Dark Ace out on a mission-"

"Lemme guess; he's mucked it up and now you need us to help him!" Snipe interrupted with a grin.

Ravess sighed at her brother. Seriosuly, why did he always have to say the most stupid things at the worse possible times. She looked at the Master, who oddly enough didn't seem mad that Snipe had interrupted. It was like she wasn't even concentrating on what was around her; on what was being said.

Ravess shivered. This wasn't like her at all. So what on earth was the matter?

"Master?" she asked, looking at the young girl ahead of her. "Do we have to help the Dark Ace like my ever-so-wonderful brother seems to guess?"

Snipe looked at his sister, and was about to say something back when Master Cyclonis spoke.

"Snipe, please do not interrupt me when I am talking." The master said with a dangerous edge to her voice. "And Ravess, you are nearly right. Now, may I continue without the two of you interrupting again this time?"

Okay… Ravess thought. Scratch that last thought. She _is_ mad.

The siblings nodded.

"Good." Master Cyclonis stated. "Now, where was I… Oh yes. A few hours ago I sent the Dark Ace on a mission. He had to investigate the area around Terra Grimius, as we have picked up some strange and unusual frequency readings from there and I wished to find out more. However, as I have said I sent him out there a few hours ago and so far I have heard nothing from him." She said, this time toying with the crystals on the opposite end of her staff.

"Master, maybe there is no reason for worrying. Maybe he is on his way as we speak!" Ravess said to Cyclonis. "After all, there are a lot of reasons why he may be late!"

"Ravess, he has not radioed in." Was all that the Master had to say to her.

Ravess knew that that was all that was needed to be said. All Cyclonians, Talons and Commanders alike, knew the importance of radioing in to let Master Cyclonis know of their progress… or sometimes the lack of. However, if the Dark Ace had not radioed in, it meant that something was up.

"Maybe his radio isn't working?" Was all that her brother had to put forward. Master Cyclonis didn't even bother to respond to that.

"It has been too long. So I am sending both you and your brother to find out what has happened, and while you are there to look around to see if you can find the source of this reading." The Master said to Ravess.

Ravess nodded, and bowed. "I understand. We will go at once."

Snipe copied her, and together they began to walk out of the Throne Room.

"Oh, and Ravess?" Came the cool voice of the teen ruler.

Ravess turned, and waited.

"Make sure that Snipe obeys you this time round. I do not wish to hear of anymore failures."

"Yes Master. I understand." She replied. They were both nearly out of the room when a final sentence was hurled at them while the door was closing.

"Make sure you find him."

*************************************************************

_**Poor old Snipe, its not his fault that he can be rather slow at times!**_

_**Sorry that this is so short, and that it is also late, but I have been rather busy at the mo, but hopefully since I'm off school for a bit I can get more chapters up.**_

_**Please review people! Even a simple, "I liked it!" or "I hated it!" Will do. I just want your views on this!**_

_**Toodles xoxo**_


	6. Of Headaches and Help

**_Hey again guys! Wow, I have to say a massive THANK YOU to all who reviewed my last chapter. Seriously, thank you all so much! It really does mean a lot, so this chapter is therefore dedicated to everyone who has reviewed. While I am at it, sorry for taking so long! It has been a busy time here, but lets go forth and see what happened to Aerrow and Dark Ace then, shall we?_**

Aerrow struggled to open his eyes. His head hurt like hell, and if he was to be completely honest with himself he would say that he really couldn't be bothered getting up. He just wanted to still perfectly still, not be bothered in anyway and sleep.

However, he knew that that idea was pretty much useless. He was going to have to try and get up, no matter how badly his body complained. The sooner he got up, the sooner he could find out where he was and hopefully find a way out.

Aerrow gritted his teeth and heaved himself up of the cold ground. His parachute lay like a blanket below him. He carefully pulled himself into a sitting position and began a quick check of his status, while all the time looking around him. He gulped. This place, whatever it was, looked horrendous.

The trees were all dead, and bogs and swamps appeared to be everywhere, but luckily none where near him. He was instead next to a pile of rocks and boulders, and he counted his lucky stars that he hadn't landed on those, or else he wouldn't even be having these thoughts at all.

"Right, so…"Aerrow started, quickly looking at his arms and legs, " No broken bones…. Just a bloody nose and a lots of cuts and bruises, but otherwise I'm fine…" he muttered to himself, before seeing his arm. He now understood why it cut when he moved it. It must have been slashed at by a piece of machinery or something of his skimmer when they collided… When they collided!

Aerrow stopped suddenly in the process of bandaging his arm. His thoughts were slow, almost sluggish which was why it had taken him so long to remember a important fact:

He had been with the Dark Ace… they had fought…he had dragged him out of the falling skimmers… which led to an important question-

Where was he now?

Aerrow swore under his breath. This was all he needed. His arch rival missing, on this Terra… what was it called again… his thoughts were interrupted by a harsh scream of a passing vulture-like bird overhead.

"Grimius" he said, watching the evil-looking bird fly away. The worst Terre to be on in a situation like this. Picking himself of the ground and trying to stand, he was pleased to see that his body didn't fight anymore. Now he could start looking for rescue, shelter…and Dark Ace. Wherever he was.

"Well, I fell here…" Aerrow said, pointing at his parachute. "Dark Ace fell before me, so that means he could be anywhere over there…" he pointed in the opposite direction, towards the cluster of dead trees. He sighed. He didn't have anything to protect himself with; only one of his energy blades was working and it was pitiful at that, so the idea of walking into an unknown location with nothing to fight with seemed absurd.

"Dark Ace... This had really better be worth it… You'd better be seriously needing my help!" Aerrow shouted into the trees, while beginning to walk towards them. He was slightly off-balance, but that was down to his head injury.

He had reached the trees, and looking around him one more time, he hacked his way through the leafy and overgrown foliage and soon disappeared from view.

*************************************************************

Pain. That was all he could feel.

He opened his eyes, and looked around him. So they had made it, and had landed here in this God-forsaken Terra. But why did everything _hurt _so much?

Weakly turning on his side, he faintly smirked at what he saw.

"I knew that stupid piece of metal would cause me no end of problems…. So I will really enjoying killing whoever did make it loose in the first place now!" he muttered, looking at the remains of what had once been an absorption panel that was now currently pierced through his side.

"Right, my little friend. Time to clear off…" Dark Ace whispered to the piece of metal, placing his hands around it. Carefully, he tightened his grip and holding his breath (which hurt as well) he quickly tugged it out of him. He couldn't help a moan come out of his mouth as he did so. Gasping in pain, he looked at the metal piece and clumsily threw it overhead and heard it meet with some rocks behind him.

He wiped a hand over his face and saw with distaste the blood that was there when he removed it. Seriously, he thought to himself, it was like everything was out to get him.

"I blame the world in general for this, I really do…" he muttered faintly, as his eyes closed over and he slipped into unconsciousness.

He never heard the distant footsteps or the loud complaints of his travelling partner, though if he had, he probably wouldn't have been rejoicing at the sound of it.

*************************************************************

"Stupid trees, stupid rocks, stupid swamps….. I hate this place!" Aerrow shouted into the darkening sky above him. It seemed like days since he had started his search due to the thick bushes that where in his way and the time it had taken to traipse around the millions of bogs and swamps he had come across. Okay, maybe not millions, but it had sure seemed like that at the time!

He had seen on skimmers overhead, but he had found a cave-like place which he planned on using for shelter. He had heaved in his parachute and had left it there for when he got back. That was, of course, if he would ever get back.

"Bloody stupid…" Aerrow picked up where he left of on the rant but stopped because he heard what sounded like a moan come from only a short distance ahead of him.

"Please let that be a person, and not some type of creepy two-headed lion or something…" Aerrow muttered, carefully picking his way through the rest of the over-grown foliage. He slowly and quietly walked through the clearing, neatly managed to avoid certain death by mud when steered around a bog, and then looked ahead. What he saw scared him.

It was the Dark Ace.

But he was lying still…

*************************************************************

Aerrow walked quickly over to the older man's side. When he got there, he took in his condition. The dark Ace had defiantly had a rougher time that what he had had, and he clearly reflected this. His face had long and deep gashes down the sides, his nose was bleeding, and the way he was hunched over would seem to suggest that he had hurt his chest. Aerrow didn't know what to do. Should he wait, and see if the man would wake up, or should he try and speed up the process?

"Of all the people, it just had to be you!" Aerrow said with a faint smile on his face. His enemy was at his mercy, yet Aerrow didn't feel triumphant or anything. He was actually glad that he had the Dark Ace with him. If anything tried to attack them, Aerrow thanked that fact that he would have the Dark Ace with him at his side, fighting with him. He knew just how good of a fighter the man was. Perhaps they could team together and hopefully that way they would get out of this place, which was growing more scary by the second.

Aerrow was just about to give the Dark Ace a nudge when he heard coughing. He bent down and peered at the man, who stared back.

"I was about to ask where are we, but then when I saw you, I realised that it must be hell…" the Dark Ace muttered weakly with a grin. Aerrow sighed and rolled his eyes. Okay then, so maybe the whole joining up with each other was currently on hold.

"Hilarious. Come on, get up. The sooner we get out of here, the better." Aerrow retorted back. He grew slightly uneasy when he saw that the Dark Ace didn't make any motion to get up, or even to move.

"What is it? Are you hurt?" The sky knight asked, reaching over to the Cyclonian. Who simply rolled his eyes and edged away slowly from the hand approaching him.

"Kid, you seem to have forgotten that we have jumped out of skimmers, into the air, and didn't happily hug the ground. We smacked it. So forgive me if I can't get up quickly…" he broke off to cough, "And don't act all medical with me. I'm fine. Give me a minute... just bugger off!" he said, sitting up slowly and trying unsuccessfully to get up on his feet.

Aerrow glared at the older man who simply grinned his evil grin back.

"Go away, Aerrow!" he said.

"Fine. But hurry up!" was all that he said back, before getting up and walking a few steps away from the Talon Commander. He watched as the Dark Ace seemed to struggle to stand, but he eventually did and looked at the boy.

"Taa Daa…" he said, before having to grab a nearby (dead) tree to hold himself upright. Aerrow bit his lip. This wasn't good. The man was injured, but wouldn't let Aerrow get close enough to see where he was hurt. Aerrow watched as Dark Ace wiped blood of his still-bleeding face and spat out yet more blood onto the ground. Aerrow looked at him.

"My lip's split." Was all that Dark Ace said.

Aerrow took a couple of steps towards the unsteady man, who instantly put one of his hands up. The message could not be clearer: _Stay away. _

To Aerrow, he looked like a injured deer caught in a corner by some crazy natives of Terra Oceania. He then realised that Dark Ace must have thought that Aerrow still wanted to fight him. He couldn't help but laugh at the idea. How on Atmos would he be able to fight him if his head was bleeding, he felt that everything was fuzzy and his arm hurt? Aerrow realised that he still had the remaining energy blade in his hand. Dark Ace had nothing. It would look like Aerrow wanted to fight.

Aerrow sighed. They really didn't have time to do this. All he wanted was to drag himself and Dark Ace back to that cave, preferably before dark, and wait… for rescue. Hopefully.

"Look, Dark Ace," he started, while edging his way all the more closer to the injured man, "I'm not gonna fight with you. I just want to help, okay? We have to stick together if we wanna get out of here… so, why not start now?" he said, taking another step in front. Seeing the man tense up, Aerrow put down his energy blade on the ground. "See, I told you! I just wanna help!"

Dark Ace looked at the boy. Was he serious? Or was he only waiting for him to step forward, and then he would try and hack at him? If only his head didn't hurt so much; he could barely think. All he knew was that if Aerrow wanted to fight him, he would win. Ace was in no condition to fight. He felt…helpless. Weak.

"How do I know that you aren't gonna try and -" he started, but was forced to stop because his chest hurt. He coughed, holding onto a tree for support.

Aerrow watched the man. He made up his mind, and walked the last steps over to him and carefully put his good arm around the man to support him. Dark Ace immediately tried to push him off, but Aerrow held on.

"Get off me!"

"No. I am trying to help, and I don't want to watch you collapse in a heap in front of me." There was a pause, in which the Dark Ace continued to struggle and suddenly asked a question.

"Why do you want to help me?" Aerrow was stopped by this question. It was a good one- why did he want to help a man who was his enemy; his rival?

"Because…It's what Sky Knights do. Help others who need it. You need help. Accept it!" Aerrow said, watching as the older man stopped trying to push him off.

"Look, kid, I'm fine! Just let me walk by myself, okay?" Dark Ace muttered. He hated having to rely on people, and if people included Aerrow, well…

Aerrow reluctantly let go of the older man. "Okay, but if I feel that you need help, I'm grabbing you!"

Dark Ace burst out laughing.

"What?" Aerrow asked, annoyed.

The Dark Ace laughed again, before coughing. When he had stopped, he looked at Aerrow and said with a grin, "I never knew you swung that way, Aerrow!"

"What on Atmos do you mean?" Aerrow asked angrily. They began slowly walking, Aerrow leading the way to the cave which would be their shelter for the night.

"You said you would grab me. Seriously, you just can't contain yourself…" Dark Ace said, starting to laugh again.

Aerrow blushed, but still muttered back angrily, "That wasn't what I meant, and you know it!"

"Whatever, kid." The older man said, limping after the boy.

Aerrow rolled his eyes. This was going to be a very long day, with an even longer night ahead…

*************************************************************

_**Well my friends, how was it? You like, or hate? Let me know! Once again, thanks to all those who reviewed, I really appreciate it! And sorry again for not updating sooner! I'll try to update sooner next time, so look out for chapter seven, and even more banter with Aerrow and Dark Ace.**_

_**Toodles! xoxo**_


	7. Of Coughs and Caves

_**A/N: Hello my friends! Welcome to Chapter Seven! Yes, I know - How long has it been? XD. Sorry about that, but school life has become increasingly more busy and I've had loads to do, plus my exams are coming up…But enjoy Chapter seven anyway! With more banter from Aerrow and the Dark Ace, as promised.**_

_**A massive thank you to all who have reviewed this story, or added it to their faves or even to alerts. It means a lot, so thanks.**_

_**An even bigger thank you to **_**Takeno**_** for telling me to keep going; giving me a real push when I needed it most. Thank you!**_

* * *

"Stupid rocks! Stupid dead trees! Stupid bogs! Atmos, I hate this place…" Aerrow ranted, trying unsuccessfully to navigate his way around a particularly muddy swamp. Too busy ranting to himself to actually watch where he was going, it came as a shock to him when he tripped over a rock and fell forward.

"Seriously Aerrow, I thought you were meant to be agile?" The Dark Ace said with a smirk on his bloodied face, whilst quickly grabbing a hold of Aerrow's arm and thus preventing him from falling face first into the swamp. Aerrow looked at him with a glare that failed to work on his taller rival, and the glare increased its intensity when he saw how easy the Dark Ace made the whole jump-around-muddy-swamp-and-avoiding-rocks manoeuvre.

"Oh ha ha." Aerrow said dryly. "You try leading the way then, if you think it is so easy!" He gestured forward with his hands. "Go on then!"

The Dark Ace smirked again, before releasing his grip on Aerrow's arm. "There is a problem with your oh so wonderful plan, Oh Mighty Dodger of Swamps. I do not know the way to this cave you have been rambling on about for the past five minutes!" He nearly laughed when he saw the glare that Aerrow threw at him. It hurt to much to laugh, but if his chest stopped hurting him so much he would have been laughing his head off. Who would have known how amusing this whole fiasco would have turned out to be?

Aerrow opened his mouth to reply before he sighed and admitted defeat. He knew that the Dark Ace was right, unfortunately. Seeing as he had no idea where to go, maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea to let him lead. Goodness knows where they would end up in this place. Which was becoming all the more creepy with every passing minute.

"Fine! But stop laughing at me every two minutes, okay?" He said, trying to pick his way around more rocks. He looked back and saw that Dark Ace neatly step his way around the rocks and mud, with not so much as a speck of mud on him at all. Aerrow absently looked down at his own legs and saw that the bottom half of his uniform was coated in mud. He looked over again at the Dark Ace. He made the whole thing look so effortless, and seeing as he was hurt (and still refusing to let Aerrow anywhere near him to try and take a look at his injuries) it was quite an achievement.

Aerrow was momentarily distracted by a dull throbbing in his arm. He had bandaged it some time ago before he had set out to look for the Dark Ace, but it was still painful to move. He looked at it for a second, before looking for to his rival, who was making his way to him, still neatly side-stepping all the bogs and rocks around them. But even as Aerrow looked at him he could see that the Dark Ace was badly injured, _somewhere._ He didn't know exactly where, as the man refused to let him be "medical" to him, but he guessed it was around his chest or his stomach. He could see that the dark-haired man was making sure that he wasn't showing how much pain he was in, and he could see how he was gritting his teeth in the effort of keeping his pain to himself.

How much longer he would go on doing this… Aerrow didn't know. But he didn't think it would be a long time, anyway. If the man collapsed on him, he knew he wouldn't be able to carry or even drag him anywhere, not with his arm hurting like hell at the slightest movement.

Not for the first time, Aerrow found himself surprised at the change of events. Here was his "hated rival", completely at his mercy and yet Aerrow was helping him. But Aerrow wanted to help, it was after all, part of his nature to help anyone, and seeing as he was a Sky Knight as well into the bargain, well, he would make sure that he could help the Dark Ace in anyway he could.

Hence the race against time to get him to that cave before he fell over.

"We have to get to that cave soon!" Aerrow muttered quietly to himself. The Dark Ace was close now and he didn't want him to overhear anything he said.

The Dark Ace carefully avoided the latest boggy patch and easily jumped over the rocks on which Aerrow had cut his leg on recently before landing beside him without a noise. He looked at Aerrow. The kid had obviously hurt his arm, judging by the bandaging and the fact that he was practically cradling it close to his chest, and his face was bloody and bruised but still better off than his own. However, the kid still didn't look as if he could put up much of a fight, and Dark Ace briefly wondered about what would happen if some starving, wild animal decided that they were good enough prey for his lunch.

He looked quickly at the darkening skies. Okay, dinner then. But the point still stood. They wouldn't have a chance, not really. Aerrow could fight better right now, but neither of them had a weapon of any kind to defend themselves with. The sooner they reached this cave that the kid had been going on about since he had led the way from the clearing he had woken up in, the better.

He looked back down from the skies, and looked at Aerrow again. The kid was looking at him with something like concern written in his shining green eyes. Dark Ace snorted. Well, he could be as concerned as he wanted, but he wasn't going near him.

"How much longer to do we have to -" He started to ask, but he suddenly started coughing. He struggled to breath, and to keep the pain that this coughing spell was giving him from showing. He had to yet again grab hold of a nearby tree to remain upright and for support.

Aerrow watched the scene before him, and worried. This really wasn't good. He darted forward to man and put his good arm around his shaking shoulders yet again, refusing to budge even when the man began to struggle.

"We've.." Cough. "Been…" Cough. "Through this already!" Another cough.

Aerrow sighed but ignored the man. He tried to steady the Dark Ace, and refused to move.

"Aerrow! Get off me!" The Dark Ace said, his voice hoarse as he tried to get out of the boy's grasp. He coughed again, and held his hand up to his mouth. He turned around and with his back to the boy, took his hand away from his mouth. He wasn't at all surprised to see spatters of blood lying there. He relaxed against the tree and against Aerrow, exhausted.

Aerrow stepped in front of him, and he quickly wiped his hands down on his uniform. Best if the kid didn't see what he had. The boy would then force him to let him examine him, something that he didn't want.

"This is it. Dark Ace, let me look at you! I know something is wrong and there could be something I could do to help you-" The boy started to say, but Dark Ace held his hand up and cut him off.

"Aerrow, I'm fine. Look, let's just get to this cave and then we can start planning on how we can leave this -" A loud and harsh cry made them both look up, and up in the sky they saw several vulture-like creatures circling them- "…place. For Atmos' sake, we can't hang around outside anymore, look at them!" He pointed with a slightly shaking hand to the sky. "They are already thinking that we are done for and probably planning on when they can start to eat us, so let's get going."

Aerrow looked at him with a frown. "It's about five more minutes away… and I'm worried about you. I don't think you have those five more minutes left in you to walk…" He said, biting his lip anxiously.

"How touching. I feel loved, now knowing that you are worried about me. Aerrow - get a move on before I kick you up the ass and then you go flying into a swamp!" Dark Ace said back, lightly leaning against the boy. He had to, or else he thought he would kneel over.

Aerrow didn't look at all fazed by that statement. He probably knew that the Dark Ace didn't have enough energy to do good on his threat, seeing how he had to lean against him to stay upright.

"Look, I was just saying that-" he started, but was once again interrupted.

"Never mind! Look, you worry about getting us to that cave before those things come after us, and I'll worry about myself."

Aerrow sighed. "Deal. But I mean it. You do something like that again and I _will_ check you out."

He realised to late what he had said and how it sounded. "Don't even think of laughing! You know what I mean!" He said, seeing that the Dark Ace was beginning to smirk again.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Aerrow." he said, smirking, before weakly detaching himself from Aerrow and beginning to walk ahead.

* * *

"I swear to all that is good and holy in Atmos… Aerrow, if you don't stop humming that song I will kill you with my bare hands!" Dark Ace shouted, before breaking into an outburst of painful coughing. Aerrow looked back at him with more concern and worry written all over his face but he Dark Ace ignored him and simply kept walking, neatly avoiding more muddy spots even though he was shaking from head to toe, feeling as if he was coughing up his lungs.

They had continued walking, mostly in silence, and accordingly to Aerrow were "very near" this cave. But Aerrow, deciding that he didn't like the silence, had started to hum a _very annoying _song. It had been easy to ignore at first, but now since he had been humming it for the past ten minutes, non-stop, the Dark Ace had felt that enough was enough. Hence his outburst. Thankfully it had worked, but now he couldn't stop coughing, and now the brat was looking at him as if he expected him to drop dead at any moment now.

Not for the first time the Dark Ace wondered _how the hell_ this had all worked out. And even then he wondered _why the hell _he had just let things be, and not attempted to go his own way, or even to over-power Aerrow. He snorted. He knew why - he simply did not have either the energy or the strength to do so, and as a result was now traipsing around this Terra with his so named "hated rival". Funny, how life makes things work, isn't it?

"Not far to go now, Dark Ace! We're nearly there!" Aerrow called to him, trying to catch up.

"You said that five minutes ago." The Dark Ace flatly said, reminding him of his previous hopeful statement, before stopping and letting Aerrow catch up.

"Ha ha." Aerrow said dryly. "This place is hard to get around, so sorry if my estimation was a little off!"

The Dark Ace grinned. "Well, I'm not complaining. We got the scenic route… if you call seeing countless bogs and swamps scenic, but you know what I mean."

Aerrow sighed and decided not to reply to that one. He stood beside the taller man for a second, wondering if he should go ahead of him, or walk behind him and then if he collapsed, that meant he could catch him….

The Dark Ace seemed to be reading him like a book.

"Go ahead. You lead the way…I promise I won't attempt to kill you with my bare hands." The Dark Ace said, smirking at the look on Aerrow's face. The kid was not amused. He waited until Aerrow set off again, and it wasn't until he was a good six paces ahead that the Dark Ace put a hand to his mouth, coughed again, and quickly wiped his hand down his uniform.

He wouldn't let on what was happening to the kid. It was his problem to deal with and no one else's. Besides, he did not want that boy to play doctor with him. Heaven knew it was painful enough as it is, so he didn't need a teenage boy hoking and poking around.

* * *

Aerrow knew that the Dark Ace was badly injured, but what could he do? He had threaten earlier before that if the Dark Ace had yet another serious soughing fit, then he would force him to let him check him out….Aerrow shook his head quickly. He of course meant to check out his injuries, but whenever he had said that out loud, well….

The point was still standing. He had not made good on his threat, and the Dark Ace had probably realised that. What could he do? They were close to the cave now, of that he was sure, so all he could do was wait and see if the Dark Ace could last that long.

Onwards they went, saying a huge thank you as they did so as instead of bogs there were only trees around this part of the forest. Aerrow perked up a little on seeing the trees, he knew that he was getting closer to the cave. At last things appeared to be going his way!

He quickly looked behind him. The Dark Ace was close, but Aerrow could still see the pain on the man's face, and that fact that he was limping, albeit slightly, surely wasn't helping matters.

"Dark Ace! We're nearly here! Look!" Aerrow said, pointing into the trees. He could see quite clearly now the outline of the cave. "Look! It's over there!" He was happy at last. Once they were inside then they could relax and rest for a bit, and of course, Aerrow could examine Dark Ace.

The Dark Ace stopped and looked over to where Aerrow was pointing so enthusiastically.

"Oh, Cave of Wonders, please grant us access and shelter…" he started to say with a smirk forming on his bloodied face, but Aerrow cut him off.

"Come on! The sooner you are in there then -" he began to say, but not before he in turn was cut off. _Really, we're going to have to grasp the concept of letting each other finish what it was we wanted to say…_ Aerrow though with a sigh.

"If you think, Aerrow, that as soon as we get in there," Dark Ace said, starting to walk again, "that you can force me to let you be all medical with me, then you have another thing coming. How many times do I have to say it? I'm fine! So leave me be…" he finished, now close to the cave itself.

Aerrow started at him in amazement. He was still saying all that rubbish? _Well, it was now or never…_He thought.

"Look, Dark Ace, you and I both know that that is complete rubbish. If you're fine, then this place is as good as Terra Tropica for a holiday." Aerrow said, pausing outside the cave. He looked at Dark Ace, who seemed to be slightly surprised for a second, whether it was at Aerrow's words, or the fact that Aerrow was arguing with him, Aerrow didn't know. However, Dark Ace soon folded his arms and leant against the mouth of the cave, lightly smirking instead.

"I don't know why you're smirking, not when you know I'm right on this one! Dark Ace, get in the cave and then you can let me look at your side injury-" Aerrow saw Dark Ace start at that - "I thought so. It is your side, isn't it? And I'm guessing you have done something to your chest as well, which is why you keep coughing, and so painfully too. Look, just get in and let me take a look. How bad can it be?" Aerrow said, looking at the black-haired man all the time.

Dark Ace sighed. He really didn't want to give in, but he did want to lie down. And that would only happen if he went inside the cave and let Aerrow take a look at him.

"I hate the world. I really do." He muttered to himself, before sighing yet again and looking at Aerrow.

"Fine. Have it your way. But," He paused for a second, on seeing Aerrow brightening up, "I want to make a deal first before we go in."

Aerrow now looked interested. "What deal?"

"I want to have a lie down before you start prodding and poking me. It is, after all, the least you can let me do." Dark Ace said.

"But, that could waste time, which you don't have!" Aerrow said, sounding angry, but more worried.

Dark Ace, would had been in the process of moving towards the entrance of the cave folded his arms yet again and resumed his leaning against the cave. "Then we have no deal." He said bluntly.

Aerrow sighed. This man was so…annoying, for want of a better word. He took a deep breath an counted to ten in his head, just like he had to do with Finn and Piper all the time. He suddenly thought about them. How were they? Where were they? Still safe? On the Condor? Thoughts raced through his head, but he quickly pushed them aside to focus on the matter at hand.

"Well?" Dark Ace's voice cut through his focusing.

_Here we go, now or never…_he thought yet again, before opening his mouth to reply.

"Yes. Deal."

* * *

_**And there we have it, folks! I know, it is a bit of a weak chapter ending but I wanted to leave something without a cliff-hanger for once. XD. **_

_**So what will happen next with those two? Will they actually walk through the cave? Find out soon! But not too soon, as the next chapter is finding out how the search parties for the two of them are going…**_

_**Well, thanks for reading and I hope to se you at the next chapter! Remember to review to let me know what you all think!**_

_**Toodles, Leah xo**_


End file.
